Voter trust in Australian political system at 20-year low ahead of election: research

More Australians than ever before are finding it hard to trust their politicians and the political system, results of a survey released on Friday have shown.

Just eight days before Australians head to the polls for the July 2 federal election, a University of Canberra survey has found that disenchantment within the greater Australian population is at 20-year highs, with only 42 percent of Australians happy with the way democracy was working in their country.

The survey also found that trust in politicians was at its lowest point since the mid-1990s, and lead researcher Mark Evans, who polled voters in the seat of Indi, said there was a clear disconnect between the major parties and Aussie voters.

"What we have picked up more broadly, is that dissatisfaction runs high and the current election doesn't seem to have boosted people's opinions either," Evans told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday.

"The evidence from Indi, and nationally for that matter, is that the key question for the majority of Australians come election time is who do you trust to run the country?"

"For many Australians, political parties are simply failing to capture the political imagination."

Evans said it was little wonder the smaller parties and independents were experiencing record support levels heading into the July 2 election.

"This provides the space for either independents or minority parties to build alternative agendas around the politics of trust or a wake-up call to the main parties to reconnect with the citizens," he said.

The survey covered more than 1,400 voters and was undertaken not to determine political agenda, Evans said, rather, it was aimed at gauging an accurate snapshot of the current political sentiment. Endit